After noticing that pop music singer Dido was selling her home, I came across something in their political blog, Top of the Ticket, http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/ which yesterday had the world exclusive about Barack Obama wearing a lapel pin of the U.S. flag -with 57 stars.
Top of the Ticket, Politics Coast to Coast, With The LA Times: Patriotic Barack Obama lapel pins unveiled honoring all 57 states
"Yesterday The Ticket broke the stunning news of America's acquisition of seven, maybe eight, new states, according to future president Barack Obama.
He was speaking at the start of a two-day swoop through Oregon, which is already a state.
In Beaverton, which is not a state yet, the Democrat let it slip that during this marathon 16-month party presidential nomination struggle against a bunch of dropouts and this female political zombie from New York who won't surrender short of a silver stake, he had already visited 57 states with one more to go..."
To read the rest of the fascinating post, go to:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/05/new-patriotic-o.html
To make more sense of it: http://www.somecrankyguy.com/?p=1660
Below, the Obama State of the Union, perhaps now featuring the State of South Florida:
Following an exhaustive internal investigation involving the Obama brain trust, it was announced that the idea for the 57-star U.S. flag lapel pin was originally thought up by what the Obama press office described as "some well-intentioned Obama volunteers in Scranton, PA."
What Obama officials seemed loathe to report was that the so-called 'Keystone State Korps' volunteers were personally vetted by Obama brain and would-be White House Chief of Staff David Axelrod.
(See March 12th South Beach Hoosier post, Florida primary mess: Maggie Williams writes "Dear David, re Florida" http://southbeachhoosier.blogspot.com/2008/03/florida-primary-mess-maggie-williams.html )
Additionally, at first blush, it would seem self-evident that at a minimum, the volunteers in Scranton -who, unbeknownst to their boss, used their work office at night- committed a violation of in-kind financial contributions, which could result in some significant fines for struggling paper company Dunder-Mifflin...
http://www.dundermifflin.com/
Dunder Mifflin Inc. (stock symbol DMI) is a micro-cap regional paper and office supply distributor with an emphasis on servicing small-business clients. With a corporate office in New York City, Dunder Mifflin has branches in Buffalo, Albany, Utica, Scranton, Akron, Camden, Nashua and Yonkers.
For organizational chart, please see:
http://www.nbc.com/The_Office/downloads/dunder_mifflin_org_chart.pdf
DM-Scranton Assistant to the Regional Manager Dwight K. Schrute rejecting sales rep Jim Halpert's suggestion that the flag pin lapel only consist of existing U.S. states.The FEC is currently unable to launch an election-year investigation due to internal Senate wrangling over commissioner vacancies, so chances that this probe will be wrapped-up before Election Day appear unlikely.
See official site at http://www.nbc.com/The_Office/ ,
Full episodes at http://www.nbc.com/The_Office/video/episodes.shtml#vid=241392
Season finale preview at http://www.nbc.com/The_Office/video/#cat=new
LA Times articles on The Office at http://topics.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/the-office
LA Times Showtracker for The Office http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/the_office/index.html
Steve Carell will be the host for the season finale of Saturday Night Live on May 17th, which will likely feature lots of knowing comments about his upcoming film, Get Smart.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425061/
Perhaps the film will surprise me, since I like both Carell and Anne Hathaway, but an ominous sign from my point of view is that the film's director, Peter Segal, http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0781842/ is someone whose previous directorial efforts I've made a conscious effort to avoid at all costs, largely Adam Sandler and Eddie Murphy star vehicles.
I've never paid money to attend a Peter Segal-directed film.
I really loved the old NBC TV series, so I'll hope for the best and keep my fingers crossed.
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In reading the comments of LA Times readers who wrote in -keeping in mind that they wrote in from all over the country, not just The Left Coast- it was hard not to notice how many Obama supporters made a point of bringing up Guantanamo, saying that surely one of those additional stars on the flag pin lapel must be for that U.S. outpost in Cuba.
But these folks then neglect to mention the poor ol' District of Columbia.
Once again, D.C. gets the shaft!
There's elite and effete thinking in action for ya!
You might also want to take a look at the thoughtful Times' story that ran today titled Barack Obama faces an untested set of hurdles by Doyle McManus, the Times Washington bureau chief and regular Washington Week TV guest and Diane Rehm Show guest,
http://wamu.org/programs/dr/ and reporter Peter Wallsten,
http://www.debbieschlussel.com/archives/2008/04/ripped_of_by_th.html
...Obama has "handicaps and potential problems, race being one of them, [but] it's not the only one," Pew Center President Andrew Kohut said. "He is perceived as a liberal. He is perceived by many voters as not well grounded on foreign policy and not tough enough . . . and he has a potential problem, distinct from race, of being seen as an elitist, an intellectual."
Taken together, that's a formidable catalog of vulnerabilities. In an ordinary election year, and with a more traditional candidate, it might make a Democratic victory hard to envision. But 2008 is not an ordinary political year: Republicans are weighted down by an unpopular incumbent, a presumed nominee who supports an unpopular war, and economic troubles that threaten voters in their homes, their jobs and their pocketbooks.
See the rest of the article at: http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-dems11-2008may11,0,71247.story
